bark

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The harsh sound uttered by a dog.
2. n. A sound, such as a cough, that is similar to a dog's bark.
3. v. To utter a bark.
4. v. To make a sound similar to a bark: "The birds bark softly, sounding almost like young pups” ( Charleston SC News and Courier).
5. v. To speak sharply; snap: "a spot where you can just drop in . . . without anyone's barking at you for failing to plan ahead” ( Andy Birsh).
6. v. To work as a barker, as at a carnival.
7. v. To utter in a loud, harsh voice: The quarterback barked out the signals.
8. idiom. bark up the wrong tree To misdirect one's energies or attention.
9. n. The tough outer covering of the woody stems and roots of trees, shrubs, and other woody plants. It includes all tissues outside the vascular cambium.
10. n. A specific kind of bark used for a special purpose, as in tanning or medicine.
11. v. To remove bark from (a tree or log).
12. v. To rub off the skin of; abrade: barked my shin on the car door.
13. v. To tan or dye (leather or fabric) by steeping in an infusion of bark.
14. v. To treat (a patient) using a medicinal bark infusion.
15. n. A sailing ship with from three to five masts, all of them square-rigged except the after mast, which is fore-and-aft rigged.
16. n. A small vessel that is propelled by oars or sails.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To utter an abrupt explosive cry: said of a dog, and hence of other animals.
2. Figuratively, to clamor; pursue with unreasonable clamor or reproach: usually followed by at.
3. To cough.
4. To utter or give forth with a bark.
5. To break out with: as, to bark out flame.
6. n. The abrupt explosive cry of a dog; hence, a cry resembling that of the dog, uttered by some other animals.
7. n. Generally, the covering of the woody stems, branches, and roots of plants, as distinct and separable from the wood itself. In its strictest scientific sense it is limited to the dry and dead portion of this covering, as found on exogenous plants, which usually consists of parenchyma or soft cellular tissue, cork, and bast, in varying proportions. See bast, cork, and epidermis. It is very diverse and often complicated in structure, varying in these respects with the species upon which it is found; but it is usually arranged in annular concentric layers. As these become distended by the thickening of the stem, the outer layers often crack and are gradually cast off. In the bark the medicinal and other peculiar properties of the plant are usually abundant, especially tannin and many alkaloids. The younger and softer layer lying next to the young wood is called inner bark, liber, or bast. See cut under bast.
8. n. Specifically— In pharmacy, Peruvian or Jesuits' bark (see Cinchona).
9. n. In tanning, oak and hemlock barks.
10. To strip off the bark of, or remove a circle of bark from, as a tree; peel; specifically, to scrape off the outer or dead bark of. See barking, 1.
11. Hence To strip or rub off the outer covering of (anything, as the skin): as, to bark one's shins.
12. To cover or inclose with bark: as, to bark a house.
13. To cover, as the bark does a tree; incrust.
14. To apply bark to, as in the process of tanning; tan.
15. To color with an infusion or a decoction of bark: as, to bark sails or cordage.
16. To kill (game) by the concussion of a bullet which strikes the bark of a limb at the spot on which the animal is crouched, or by the flying bark.
17. n. Nautical, a three-masted vessel, fore-and-aft rigged on the mizzenmast, the other two masts being square-rigged.
18. n. A vessel of any kind, especially a sailing vessel of small size.

Wiktionary

1. v. intransitive To make a short, loud, explosive noise with the vocal organs (said of animals, especially dogs).
2. v. intransitive To make a clamor; to make importunate outcries.
3. v. transitive To speak sharply.
4. n. The short, loud, explosive sound uttered by a dog.
5. n. A similar sound made by some other animals.
6. n. figuratively An abrupt loud vocal utterance.
7. n. countable, uncountable The exterior covering of the trunk and branches of a tree; the rind.
8. n. medicine Peruvian bark or Jesuit's bark, the bark of the cinchona from which quinine is produced.
9. n. The crust formed on barbecued meat that has had a rub applied to it.
10. v. To strip the bark from; to peel.
11. v. To abrade or rub off any outer covering from.
12. v. To girdle.
13. v. To cover or inclose with bark, or as with bark.
14. n. obsolete A small sailing vessel, e.g. a pinnace or a fishing smack; a rowing boat or barge.
15. n. poetic a sailing vessel or boat of any kind.
16. n. nautical A three-masted vessel, having her foremast and mainmast square-rigged, and her mizzenmast schooner-rigged.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To strip the bark from; to peel.
2. v. To abrade or rub off any outer covering from; as to bark one's heel.
3. v. To girdle. See Girdle, v. t., 3.
4. v. To cover or inclose with bark, or as with bark.
5. v. To make a short, loud, explosive noise with the vocal organs; -- said of some animals, but especially of dogs.
6. v. To make a clamor; to make importunate outcries.
7. n. The short, loud, explosive sound uttered by a dog; a similar sound made by some other animals.
8. n. Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind.
9. n. (Naut.) A three-masted vessel, having her foremast and mainmast square-rigged, and her mizzenmast schooner-rigged.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. speak in an unfriendly tone
2. v. tan (a skin) with bark tannins
3. v. make barking sounds
4. n. tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants
5. n. a noise resembling the bark of a dog
6. n. a sailing ship with 3 (or more) masts
7. v. cover with bark
8. n. the sound made by a dog
9. v. remove the bark of a tree